As an academic community organized for the purpose of teaching, learning, and research, we the members of that community have responsibilities toward each other regarding computer use as well as toward the computing community outside the College.

Respect for intellectual property, privacy of data, integrity of equipment and in general, recognition of the rights of others is of central importance. Each of us has rights to the use of computing resources and to privacy in our personal work, and each of us depends on everyone else to conduct themselves responsibly.

Respect for Intellectual Property
It is the College’s policy to adhere strictly to the letter and spirit of copyright laws and regulations, including software licensing agreements. Only authorized copying of files or programs or program utilization are ethical and legal.

Privacy
Database and other computerized information that is either on administrative computers or those of faculty or students is private and must only be accessed or disseminated by or with the permission of the owner or person in charge. Any other accessing, dissemination or tampering is illegal or unethical. Network resources, electronic mail, bulletin board software and all other computing resources are included in this category; inappropriate, rude, malicious, or harassing language or activities are also precluded.

College Equipment
College computing equipment should be handled with care due to sensitive, expensive, scarce resources. College personnel should be notified whenever the equipment, including software fails to function normally.

Computer Code of Ethics

By receiving a user and email account, students are agreeing to abide by the Northland College Information Technology Department Code of Ethics and all applicable policies and procedures.

Violation of the Computing Code of Ethics may subject the offender to disciplinary action through the existing structures for faculty, staff, and students of the College.

In order to use the computer labs and many of the networked applications you need a network account.

• I am allowed ONE user account and ONE email account unless the College has authorized multiple accounts.
• I agree not to use the user accounts of others or attempt to disguise the account or computer being used.
• I agree not to attempt to gain unauthorized access to remote computers.
• I agree not to tamper with the network in any way, block communication lines, interfere with the readiness of computer resources, circumvent security or data protection schemes, or install programs known as viruses, Trojans, or worms.
• I agree not to install or modify software on the network.
• I agree not to copy any software on the network. I agree not to engage in behaviors wasteful of computer resources or which exclude others, i.e., mass mailings, chain letters, multiple jobs, unnecessary output, or creating excessive network traffic.
• I agree to keep track of the size of my email mailbox and do regular cleanup of old and unwanted emails.
• I agree not to place any software on any College owned computer that infringes on the rights of another person, is abusive, profane, or sexually offensive according to community and/or accepted standards.  This includes but is not restricted to pirated software, destructive software (i.e., viruses), pornographic material or libelous, threatening statements directed toward individuals or racially or religiously offensive messages.
• I agree to respect computer users’ rights to privacy and will not read, copy, change, or delete another user’s files without permission.
• I agree to abide by all College computer use policies as well as the policies of other networks I may access (WISCNET, CICNET, etc.).
• I agree that the College has the title rights to software developed under a College account.
• I understand that the College computer laboratories have the following use priorities: (1) Class projects, (2) Email, (3) recreational web browsing and internet access.  Furthermore, I understand that I may have to exit the computer lab if a user with a higher priority needs access.
• I understand that any violation of the contract listed above may subject me to a suspension of computer privileges and/or prosecution under College conduct codes and/or appropriate State and federal laws.

Wiscnet Acceptable Use Policy

WiscNet’s purpose is to advance education, research, economic development, and public services by enabling the exchange of information among its constituencies. The network uses high–speed digital communication to help members and clients gain access to scientific, educational, and other resources.

The network supports collaborative instruction, research, economic development and public service. It provides access to regional, national, and international networks and hence to national resources like supercomputer centers. In general, it supports education, research, public service and economic development missions of its member clients.

• Use that is consistent with the purposes of WiscNet is acceptable.
• Use directly supporting approved uses is acceptable, for example: education; research; state, local, or national affairs; economic development; public service.
• Communications that violate Wisconsin, federal, or international laws are unacceptable.
• Activities designed to interfere with the ability of other users to make effective use of the network are unacceptable.
• Using the network in a harmful or harassing manner is unacceptable.

The above statements of policy are not meant to be exhaustive. The WiscNet Board of Directors is the final authority on questions of acceptable use of the network. Until an issue is resolved, questionable use should be considered unacceptable.

WiscNet members are responsible for seeing that their communities are aware of and follow this policy in letter and in spirit.

WiscNet members should require authentication for all users of the network.

Members are expected to take all reasonable measures, given the constraints of technology and management practices, to ensure that traffic entering WiscNet from other networks conforms to this acceptable use policy. Conversely, members are similarly expected to avoid having traffic from their organizations violate the policies of connecting networks carry WiscNet traffic.

Caution: While WiscNet is a reliable network, Internet communication protocols are in general not secure. Encryption is strongly encouraged for transmitting confidential or sensitive information.

Only wireless access provided and installed by the Northland College Information Technology Department is permitted on the Northland College campus. Personal wireless routers are not permitted because they interfere with regular network access across campus. If a student has a wireless router connected to the network, the student’s access to the network will be disabled until the router is removed.